20million African immigrants could set sail for Europe, warns EU official
THE Mediterranean migration crisis has created a ‘billion- dollar business’ for traffickers and could lead to 20million people fleeing Africa for Europe in coming years, officials warn.
The UN said the situation was now ‘out of control’ as criminal gangs send record numbers of migrants on the perilous journey from the coast of Libya.
Officials are frantically struggling to cope with the surge in illegal crossings of the Mediterranean, which is now seen as the frontline of the migration crisis.
Migrants are paying thousands of pounds to smugglers in the hope of reaching Europe only to be packed on to unsafe boats, Unicef said yesterday. More than 4,700 people died making the attempt last year.
The UN’s children’s agency said women and children are often forced to stay in ‘living hellholes’ run by militias where they are routinely beaten and raped before making the journey. In a report, it said of the cross- ing from Libya: ‘It is not only a risky route taken by desperate people, but also a billion- dollar business route controlled by criminal networks.
‘The central Mediterranean route has become a massive people smuggling operation, which has grown out of control for the lack of safe and alternative migration sys- tems. It exploits porous and corrupt border security and the vacuum created by the Libyan conflict.’
The EU’s border agency accuses charities of fuelling the crisis. Frontex chief Fabrice Leggerie said charity-operated rescue boats encouraged smugglers to use riskier tactics knowing that rescues are more likely. He called on aid agencies to change their approach, adding: ‘We must avoid supporting the business of criminal networks and traffickers in Libya through European vessels picking up migrants ever closer to the Libyan coast. This leads traffickers to force even more migrants on to unseaworthy boats with insufficient water and fuel.’
European Parliament president Antonio Tajani suggested that EU-backed detention centres should be set up in Libya to cope with the huge numbers hoping to reach Europe. ‘We either act now or 20 million Africans will come to Europe in the coming years,’ he said.
However, Unicef said existing centres in Libya were effectively ‘forced labour camps’ run by criminal gangs that extort official money to look after migrants before passing them on to smugglers.
More than 12,000 mainly African migrants arrived at Italian ports in the first two months of this year – up by around a third on the past two years.